After wrapping up their opening-round series against the Miami Heat last Tuesday, the Philadelphia 76ers spent four days in Camden anxiously waiting for the Celtics-Bucks series to wrap up so they could find out which team they’d face in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

While it took Boston seven games to finish off the Bucks, Sixers-Celtics was always the series that was meant to be, and not just because home teams win over 80 percent of Game 7s in the NBA playoffs, but also because of the storied history, and epic rivalry, between these two cities.

This series doesn’t register with some of those previous, epic clashes. The Sixers are still rising and these Celtics are injured. But the mutual disdain between these two fan bases is real, and should make for can’t-miss drama as the series...